A BIG THANKS to Sammy of Palm Addicts for the recent mention on his site. THANKS!

Palm Discovery would like to extend a BIG THANKS USB Fever for providing the product for this review.

One of the hassles that travelers or people who frequently work at different locations from day to day and even during the course of the day is having to deal with lugging all the equipment and accessories with them from point A to point B. When you travel a lot, each time you need to pack up the gear and each time you carry your gear bag, you will understand how important it is to travel light and compact. Who wants to pack and carry a bulky bag around? That’s where your choice of accessories, namely the size and weight of them come into play.

The computer mouse is one of those accessories that most of us will need to carry around. Sure, many laptops come with a touchpad which may make it unnecessary to a mouse, but not many of us are used to using the touchpad. And the touchpad is normally a small area of the laptop. Especially if you’re taking along a tiny netbook of 9 inch or so, think about how much smaller the touchpad will be. Rather than struggle with the touchpad, why not bring along a computer mouse instead, a traveler’s mouse, specifically.

USB Fever’s Mini USB Retractable Mouse for travelers offers a very portable and lightweight solution to the traveling computer user. The retractable cord component offers the advantage of extending the mouse cord to a maximum length of 80cm while also being able to retract it back to minimal length for portability. The optical mouse ensures accurate and responsive tracking. Its small size of around 9cm length by 4.5cm width by 2.8cm depth should not take up much space in your gear bag. The mouse is ergonomically designed with contoured mouse buttons. Place your fingers on them and it almost feels like a natural fit for your fingers. The sides and the scroll wheel buttons glow a cool blue color when plugged in.

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Specs and Details

Features:
- Retractable cable, extends to a maximum 80cm
- Small
- USB interface

Color Options:
- Black (default color to be shipped)
- Pink (see note below)

Package Includes:
- Mini USB Retractable Mouse for travellers x 1

Packaging:
- Blister

Notes:
- For Pink Color option, we normally just stock 2 pieces in warehouse, if you purchase more than 2 pieces, please allow us to have 5 business days to order from factory

USB Fever’s Mini USB Retractable Mouse for travelers is a lightweight, small and very portable retractable optical mouse. The mouse has the typical left and right mouse buttons that extend from the tip of the mouse to somewhere along the middle part. Each mouse button is ergonomically contoured and shaped to allow your fingers to fit comfortably on them. They are covered with a layer of silicon coating, found typically on smartphone casing and skin cases. The scroll wheel and anchor button is also covered with a silicon coating and offers a good response to finger scrolling. It offers the typical bumpy feel to ensure accurate and controlled scrolling. When plugged in, the side of the mouse glows a bright cool blue as does the scroll wheel button. This could be very helpful when using it in the dark as you would have no difficulties finding the mouse. The retractable mouse cord can extend to its maximum length of 80cm. To extend the cord, simply pull on both sides of the cord in tandem and release when you’ve reach your desired length and the cord will snap and lock into place. When you want to retract it back for packing and portability, simply tug on both ends of the cord until you hear a slight snap and slowly release your pull. The cord will spring back inside the coil, with the USB end on one end and the mouse on the other. The entire mouse in its compact form is about 7.4cm from the tip of the USB connector to the end of the mouse. But you can bend the cord portion with the coil so that it wraps around the bottom of the mouse. Now, it only takes up about 10cm.

Click on the thumbnail images for a bigger picture

Slideshow of the above pictures

Product Video

Video at YouTube

Here are my observations:

At first glance, the mini retractable mouse looks very tiny. And in some ways it is, but if you compare it side to side with another retractable traveler’s mouse, you’ll notice that it really isn’t that much smaller than others. Its length compares to about the same for another portable travelers mouse. What makes it look smaller is its thinner width but the overall length is close to a similar traveler’s mouse. But, when you hold it, it does seem that it’s a smaller mouse, because the mouse doesn’t support your entire hand, but merely the index and middle finger. If you are not comfortable with not having the ring and little finger supported by the mouse or at least be able to somewhat be supported by the mouse, you may not like or feel comfortable with this mouse.

I do like the ergonomic design of the left and right mouse buttons as it is contoured and shaped for your fingers to rest comfortably on them. It may not show very well in the pictures, but you will feel the contour at the tip of the mouse buttons. It almost feels like the buttons were made of plasticine and you made an impression on them.

I also like the silicon coating on the mouse buttons and the scroll wheel. The silicon smooth yet rubbery and soft feeling makes a difference in the overall impression of the mouse. The buttons have a decent spring back feel to them, although, they still don’t compare nearly as nice as those you’d find on branded names. At least they don’t feel rigid.

I like the retractable cable on this mouse, which is necessary for travelers mouse. This ensures no more problems dealing with tangled mouse cords or having them all over the place when packing.

The scroll wheel offers decent traction as it has that ribbed feel which aids in scrolling accuracy and it’s easy and effortless to scroll up or down.

The side and scroll wheel’s blue glowing light seems quite nice to view, although I think over time, it may become distracting. It’s too bad that there’s no option to turn it off. I guess you could always cover the side with electricians tape to block the light.

Overall, the mouse is a decent traveler’s mouse, although I did find that it’s thin width does make the rest of my hand wonder where to place it on. This may take some getting used to. If you are used to having most of your fingers somewhat supported or touching the mouse while you’re using it, you may not like this mouse as it is mainly only going to support the index and middle finger. But if you’re okay with it, then, it may be a good mouse for you as it is even thinner than other travelers mouse.

Review Summary

USB Fever’s Mini USB Retractable Mouse for travelers offers a very portable and lightweight solution to the traveling computer user. Its retractable cord, ergonomic mouse buttons and responsive scroll wheel make this a decent travelers mouse. However, as it is thinner in width compared to other travelers or portable mouse, you may wish to consider the fact that it is designed mainly to support the index and middle fingers. If you are used to having your hand cover up the mouse, you may find that this traveler’s mouse may indeed be too tiny for your hand.

Enjoyed this review? Check out the many other Palm Discovery product reviews of USB Fever products here.

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